Page 9 of Must Love Libraries and Libations
This party was not just disruptive, it was…it was full of too many new things.
I sat down on the small couch beside Melville’s favorite chair. The elder bookwyrm heaved a tired sigh. He was pearl-white now. His once sky-blue color had faded. I remembered when he was young and full of life, one of the wildest of the bookwyrms in the library, always causing mischief. Now, his time was coming to a close.
“We don’t need all that noise here, do we, Melville? We like things the way they are. There is nothing wrong with keeping things the same. Right?”
Melville raised one questioning eyebrow at me.
Bookwyrms did not really speak, but their faces and gestures conveyed their thoughts clearly enough.
I looked at the chest where Witch Eyreaway’s grimoire sat locked under a protective spell. The noise of the party would disrupt more than the bookwyrms. It could prove dangerous. If something rattled the witch’s codex, unlocked some magic I had not yet neutralized…
“Too risky. They can have the party elsewhere,” I said, giving Melville a pat before I went back to my workbench. “And I have work to do. No more distractions.”
I settled in once more and prepared to work, but when I did, I could not help but catch the lingering scent of freesia in the air.
Her.
It was her.
I huffed in annoyance and turned back to my work, trying to silence my imaginings of what it might feel like to embrace Miss Windsong. This was my duty, taking care of the library. I was the gargoyle of Moonshine Hollow Library, and I wasn’t about to change my ways or opinions due to the interference of a very enticing half-elf woman any time soon.
Even if my chamber now smelled like something that vaguely smelled of…home.
CHAPTER 5
PRIMROSE
I couldn’t remember ever being angrier. My heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my temples. Elder Theodonna and I stood outside the library. She fanned herself in an effort to calm her nerves.
“Well, that didn’t go as planned,” the elder admitted sadly. “I’m sorry, Primrose.”
“Don’t you dare apologize,” I told her. “He is the one who should be apologizing. The nerve of the man. He has been sitting in there so long that he thinks he’s part of the library. It belongs to the town, not to him. And he needed a good reminder of that, which I gave him.”
The elder smiled and laughed nervously. “That was very brave of you.”
“I’m not intimidated by him,” I told her, then set my hand on her arm. “Are you all right?”
Elder Theodonna nodded. “Yes. It just took me aback for a moment.”
“He’s not winning this argument. I don’t care how much he scowls.” Or how appealing he looks with his jaw clenched tight, his massive arms crossed defiantly on his chest. “He might have two feet on me, but he’s no match for my determination. I am my mother’s daughter, after all,” I said with a wink, making Elder Theodonna laugh.
“There is no one more persistent than your mother. That is the truth,” she said, her ease returning.
“I’ll come back tomorrow. I will win this argument. Don’t worry, Elder Theodonna. The party will be perfect.”
“You’re such a dear. Thank you. Be well, Primrose. I wish you luck. You’re going to need it,” she told me, then headed off.
Once she’d gone, I exhaled deeply, shaking out my own tensions, then turned to make my way home. It had already been a very long day.
But as I walked, I couldn’t help but ruminate.
The nerve.
The absolute nerve of that man.
He didn’t own the library. He wasn’t in charge of everything. He was there to protect the books. And the books needed protecting from what? A brass band? Lemon-poppyseed cake? Punch? Flowers?
The way he spoke to Elder Theodonna… The bloody nerve of that man.
